Cable consumers keep cutting the cord. Can anyone blame them?

[Zippyjuan]

http://fortune.com/2015/08/18/cable-...ting-the-cord/

I cut the cord this year. I still use cable for my internet though. I had Time Warner and they started scrambling and deleting channels I was paying for so I could no longer use the tuner built into my TV and would have to get a box from them to continue watching. Free for the first two years- then like $3 a month. Didn't want a box (more gadgets) and don't watch that much TV anyways. I had their smallest package which was local channels anyways plus WGN and TBS. With an antenna I get almost all the same channels for free plus a few from Mexico. Been watching some Channel 5 which has pretty good movies on (SAP has the English language version). Save me about $30 a month

Customers continue to ditch their cable subscriptions at a rate that has to be freaking out the major U.S. cable companies.

Pacific Crest analyst Andy Hargreaves estimated that the top 8 cable companies lost 463,000 subscribers in the second quarter of 2015 compared to a decline of 141,000 for the second quarter last year. “We see nothing to suggest this will change,” according to Hargreaves’ research note. Ouch.

This doesn’t come as a shock to someone who just spent the better part of an hour trying to convince Comcast CMSA 0.00% ) that $180 is way too much to pay for too many bad TV channels; often-unreliable broadband; and downright terrible phone service.

Leightman Research Group data released Monday was roughly in line: Leightman estimated that the 13 top cable providers lost about 470,000 video customers in the second quarter, compared to a loss of 350,000 for the corresponding quarter last year.

Face it: none of these numbers are reassuring to cable companies that are seeing users desert them in droves for less costly and more flexible options like Netflix NFLX 3.55% , Hulu and Apple AAPL 1.50% TV. Others are reverting to antennas. It’s back to the future.

The long and short of it is that fewer people are willing to pay a premium for lots of channels they never watch in return for a few—HBO and ESPN —that they love. HBO is now breaking that logjam with its HBO Go option that decouples HBO programming from the major providers. When ESPN follows suit, the real cable bloodbath will begin in earnest.

More at link.

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

So Zip, you are a progressive and big government supporter who voted for Obama twice. Let's hear a possibly different perspective. Do you favor all the regulation of cable? I hope you're not one of the people who cries about his bill and thinks Congress should do something about it.

[Chester Copperpot]

So Zip, you are a progressive and big government supporter who voted for Obama twice. Let's hear a possibly different perspective. Do you favor all the regulation of cable? I hope you're not one of the people who cries about his bill and thinks Congress should do something about it.

he voted for obama twice??????

[tod evans]

I've never had cable, never will.

Furthermore I've never understood the mindset that would pay for it........

[luctor-et-emergo]

I don't even have a TV.

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

I've never had cable, never will.

Furthermore I've never understood the mindset that would pay for it........

I know an older guy who tells the story about a cable survey around 1970. They walked door-to-door asking people if they would be willing to pay for TV. He said to me, "It was the stupidest thing I every heard of."

I have never had pay TV either. We got a Turk antenna for $90 just to get any reception where we live. I get a nostalgia TV channel, a country music video channel, an animal/nature channel, several movie channels, etc. If you want to know basic news, then there is that. Also, most the best sports are still on network TV (although a few have switched to cable because suckers are willing to buy it). It's basically cable. I also buy VHS movies for 75 cent at Goodwill.

There are 168 hours in a week, so any more than a few TV hours per week means you're retired, unemployed, or really wasting a lot of time.

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

I don't even have a TV.

Even better idea.

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

he voted for obama twice??????

Yep. I'm sure he voted for Boxer and Feinstein too, right along with PRB.

[Ronin Truth]

As the Cable services prices, and crappy service both continue to rise, I'm joining the blamers.

[oyarde]

I do not know anyone with cable .

[Carlybee]

We have Uverse but we cancelled all but the local channels.

[Suzanimal]

We didn't have cable for many, many years. Mostly because I don't watch much tv and Mr Animal is rarely home but we got it a few years ago when my parents moved in with us (old people gotta have their Judge Judy O_o). Anyway, one observation about raising kids without network tv (they watched videos and later Netflix) is that they never wanted much. A friend of mine noticed it first. We went shopping together and her kid was begging for every toy in the damn store and she asked me why my kids never asked for anything. I got to thinking about it and realized they never watched commercials (only at friends homes). Another observation is that they were always completely out of the loop when it came to "what's cool", lol, and the beauty of it was - they didn't care!

Me (at Christmas trying to figure out what to get them): Looks like all your friends have "such-n-such".
Animal spawn: Yeah
Me: Would you like something like that?
Animal Spawn: Naw, it's boring. I'll take the money. O_o

For Christmas and birthdays since they were pretty young they haven't asked for anything but money and I give them clothes, activities (paintball gift cards), and weird food from the Asian Market as gifts. FYI, shrimp flavored potato chips are nasty. Oh, so is Turkish Delight - I bought that for them after they read The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. We couldn't believe Edward was a dick for that crap; there must've been some powerful magic in that $#@! (loosely quoting my kid after he tasted it).

[Danke]

I don't even have a TV.

We need to start a chip-in for the Dutchman.

[tod evans]

We need to start a chip-in for the Dutchman.

From what I know he'd buy something useful instead of a Tee-Vee..

[Danke]

From what I know he'd buy something useful instead of a Tee-Vee..

Some new wooden shoes?

[tod evans]

Some new wooden shoes?

Maybe a cute wench to work the bellows on the pizza oven?

[luctor-et-emergo]

Some new wooden shoes?

Probably not. However, wooden shoes are pretty damn comfortable and they insulate well in winter. Pretty much nobody around here uses them anymore, there's a really old guy who still wears them around here but I expect him to drop dead any week now.

[luctor-et-emergo]

Maybe a cute wench to work the bellows on the pizza oven?

I'm not really into blondes... However, the Southern-German/Austrian look is pretty damn nice.

[tod evans]

I'm not really into blondes... However, the Southern-German/Austrian look is pretty damn nice.

How 'bout some "spices" for one of those pizzas?

[luctor-et-emergo]

How 'bout some "spices" for one of those pizzas?

Sure. But I'm not a big fan of edibles.